Time to Death after Terminal Withdrawal of Mechanical Ventilation: Specific Respiratory and Physiologic Parameters May Inform Physician Predictions
Autor: | Elizabeth L. Nielsen, Sarah Muni, Ruth A. Engelberg, Ann C. Long, J. Randall Curtis, Patsy D. Treece, Annette L. Fitzpatrick |
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Rok vydání: | 2015 |
Předmět: |
Male
medicine.medical_specialty Time Factors Palliative care medicine.medical_treatment Comorbidity Kaplan-Meier Estimate Age Distribution Interquartile range Humans Medicine Intensive care medicine General Nursing Aged Retrospective Studies Aged 80 and over Mechanical ventilation Terminal Care Withholding Treatment business.industry Proportional hazards model Retrospective cohort study Original Articles General Medicine Middle Aged medicine.disease Respiration Artificial Death Intensive Care Units Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Cohort Female business |
Zdroj: | Journal of Palliative Medicine. 18:1040-1047 |
ISSN: | 1557-7740 1096-6218 |
Popis: | Discussions about withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies often include family members of critically ill patients. These conversations should address essential components of the dying process, including expected time to death after withdrawal.The study objective was to aid physician communication about the dying process by identifying predictors of time to death after terminal withdrawal of mechanical ventilation.We conducted an observational analysis from a single-center, before-after evaluation of an intervention to improve palliative care. We studied 330 patients who died after terminal withdrawal of mechanical ventilation. Predictors included patient demographics, laboratory, respiratory, and physiologic variables, and medication use.The median time to death for the entire cohort was 0.58 hours (interquartile range (IQR) 0.22-2.25 hours) after withdrawal of mechanical ventilation. Using Cox regression, independent predictors of shorter time to death included higher positive end-expiratory pressure (per 1 cm H2O hazard ratio [HR], 1.07; 95% CI 1.04-1.11); higher static pressure (per 1 cm H2O HR, 1.03; 95% CI 1.01-1.04); extubation prior to death (HR, 1.41; 95% CI 1.06-1.86); and presence of diabetes (HR, 1.75; 95% CI 1.25-2.44). Higher noninvasive mean arterial pressure predicted longer time to death (per 1 mmHg HR, 0.98; 95% CI 0.97-0.99).Comorbid illness and key respiratory and physiologic parameters may inform physician predictions of time to death after withdrawal of mechanical ventilation. An understanding of the predictors of time to death may facilitate discussions with family members of dying patients and improve communication about end-of-life care. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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